GREEN INCENTIVES

The Dogwood Arts is a Non-profit Organization with over a 65-year history that promotes the art, culture and natural beauty of the outskirts of Knoxville. With the financial support from corporate and private sponsors, as well as government funding, they are working to increase the economic impact through providing year-round events “that help make Knoxville a great place to live, work, and play.” The Dogwood Arts currently has 12 trails that cover over 80-miles, however, they are located in the corners of Knoxville within high-class neighborhoods that are already relatively covered in landscape. Therefore, I am hijacking the Dogwood Arts Non-profit Organization because they have been established for over 65 years and are only enhancing the areas that are already enhanced. I intend to bring the dogwood trails into low-income neighborhoods and thereby break the boundaries they have put into place. The project is about increasing the safety and atmospheric conditions of low-income neighborhoods in and around the Knoxville area through the use of improving street conditions and expanding beautification into all realms. Therefore, the scope was determined by the desire to break the boundaries already set in stone due to levels of income. I have chosen to look at four neighborhoods within the different Knoxville areas to show a demonstration of what this could look like if it were to be applied all over the city, and because of this, the scale is limitless. As part of becoming the Dogwood Arts, I am using dogwoods as the trees lining the streets to not only provide shade, but a buffer between the road and the sidewalk and lawn as well. I am also using a series of understory plantings to enhance the biodiversity and overarching ecology of the neighborhood. The hydrology is also important because the planters soak up most of the storm water and the leftover drains through the soil and into the sewer and thereby creates a system. Having a non-profit organization that cares about improving the quality of streets in low-income neighborhoods is important because these areas currently lack safety and consequently don’t have the infrastructure in place to take on the public realm at the street scale.